Sharp Promises 3D TV that’s not 3D

Sharp is coming out with a long line of products in 2013, but perhaps most interesting in the group is a new series of 4K, Ultra HD TVs set to launch this summer. Using what Sharp calls a “Cognitive Creation Image Processor”, the new TVs will trick your eyes into thinking objects are three-dimensional. As one of the execs on stage at the CES Sharp press conference put it, “it’s like looking out a window.”

I got a brief glimpse of one of the new 3D-like displays this morning, and from my vantage point at the back of a large ballroom, it did indeed appear as if a pot of flowers was popping out of the TV screen. Given the lack of glasses, I’ll take this 3D over the kind hailed at CES events of years past. And from a programmer standpoint, I’m betting there’s a serious bandwidth advantage to fake 3D over the real thing.

Meanwhile, Sharp will also launch an Aquos brand of 4K HD TVs in late 2013. And it’s upgrading the Sharp SmartCentral smart TVs for the year too. SmartCentral is adding full HTML5 and Flash support, and a Super Beam app for sharing content from mobile devices to the Sharp display. More on that trend later. Personally I’d prefer to move TV from my TV to my tablet, but apparently the reverse trend is also taking hold.